Shields: ”Easier to be elected President than make HOF”

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson stands on the sideline during a 2005 home game.

(Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Chiefs)

Talk of Fame Network

Will Shields learned at least one thing waiting four years to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — and he shares that, and a lot more, with the Talk of Fame guys this week.

“You need 80 percent of that room (of voters),’’ the 12-time Pro Bowler joked on the latest Talk of Fame Network broadcast. “Basically, it’s easier to become the President. We’ve had Presidents elected with 33 percent of the vote!’’

With the Hall-of-Fame induction ceremony just over a week away, the TOF guys visit not only with Shields but also with the man who drafted him, former Kansas City Chiefs’ president and general manager Carl Peterson, who agrees with Shields that having come out of the powerful Nebraska program in 1993 was actually a detriment to him on Draft Day.

In fact, Peterson said, he believes it was the reason the former Outland Trophy winner lasted until the third round.

“There was little or no discussion when his name came up,’’ Peterson recalled. “He was the highest-rated player on our board. But when the media asked our line coach, Alex Gibbs, about Will, he said ‘I know he can run block. I question whether he can pass block.’

“(Then-Nebraska head coach and long-time Peterson friend) Tom Osborne called me the next day. Tom was HOT! ‘What the H does he know about Will Shields?’ I told him, ‘Tom, that’s why coaches coach and scouts scout.’ ’’

Years later, after Shields had started 223 consecutive games, Peterson said he used to ask Gibbs, “How long did you last? Not 223 starts?’’’

Shields tells our hosts, Rick, Ron and Clark, how having teammate Tim Grunhard in his ear helped him keep his streak from being broken and who his choice would be at running back if asked to pick between Marcus Allen and Priest Holmes. His answer is a reminder of just how smart offensive linemen are.

Along with all that, the guys hotly debate the most inflated story of the week – “Deflategate’’ – and its fallout for Tom Brady and the NFL, as well as delve into the biggest question marks around the league as training camps open.

Our “Dr. Data”, Rick Gosselin, gives you a nostalgic ride to training camps of yesteryear when double sessions were routine, and players lived in non-air conditioned dorm rooms on small college campuses across the country. Those days are all but over, but Goose still misses them.

In Ron Borges’ “Borges or Bogus” debate, he explains why Bruce Arians is the only NFL head coach who would hire a woman as a coaching intern, an historic move he made when bringing in former women’s professional running back Jen Welter to work with the Cardinals’ inside linebackers. Even for a guy with three assistants over 70 on his staff, this was an out-of-the-box — but typical — move of the forward-thinking Arians.

The guys express their viewpoints on the Hall-of-Fame’s decision not to allow the daughter of the late Junior Seau to speak at his induction next week and give their weekly Hall-of-Fame shout outs to John Fassel, who saved a man from drowning, and the guys who run EA Sports, who took on the Seahawks.

That and more on this week’s edition of Talk of Fame Network, available on over 80 radio stations around the country. Go there or to iTunes, the TuneIn Radio app or talkoffamenetwork.com for two hours of insightful pro football talk.

Ron Borges

Ron Borges has covered the NFL since 1974. He is the lead sports columnist at the Boston Herald, a member of the 48-person Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee and nine-person senior selection committee. He has been a finalist for inclusion in the writer’s wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame seven times. His article, “Gangsta In the Huddle,’’ co-authored with Paul Solotoroff, appeared in Rolling Stone and was included in the 2014 Best American Sports Stories anthology.
Borges has regularly covered the NFL, boxing, golf, major league baseball, the NFL, NHL and five Olympics Games for the Boston Herald, Boston Globe, Oakland Tribune and other publications. He has been named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year four times. His work has been included in Best American Sports Stories anthology 11 times and he has been named one of America’s top 10 sports columnists by the Associated Press Sports Editors numerous times in its annual competition.

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Whenever a notable player reaches or nears retirement, the first questions asked is, “Is he a first-ballot Hall of Famer?”
Well, we have the answer. That’s because our weekly radio program is hosted by three long-time NFL writers: Clark Judge, Ron Borges and Rick Gosselin are three of the 48 selectors for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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